Sofka zinovieff biography of albert

The Mad Boy was the wild and handsome young lover of the composer, painter and writer, Lord Berners.

Sofka zinovieff biography of albert einstein

During the s they lived in an aesthetes’ paradise at Faringdon House near Oxford. The doves were dyed all colours of the rainbow, dogs had jewelled collars and exquisite food was served to many of the great minds, beauties and wits of the day.

The visitors’ books are signed by numerous Mitfords, Sitwells and guests as diverse as H.G. Wells, Gertrude Stein, Harold Nicolson, Frederick Ashton, Elsa Schiaparelli and Evelyn Waugh. When, during the war, the Mad Boy suddenly got married to Jennifer Fry, a high society beauty, everyone was shocked.

The unusual ménage a trois only lasted a couple of years, but during this time a baby was born.

Sofka zinovieff biography of albert

That child, Victoria, was Sofka’s mother. However, it was not until she was seventeen that Sofka went to stay for the first time with the Mad Boy at Faringdon. By then, in , Lord Berners was long dead, but the dyed doves and the bizarre glamour remaine